Rekindle
by uncannyful
Summary: Eventually, she found out her feelings were only one-sided including their friendship. She should have never invested so much time listening to Mr. Freeman's crazy stories, followed Riley's adventures at trying to be a "gangsta", but most importantly she shouldn't have ever fallen for Huey Freeman.
1. Only A Memory

Chapter 1: Only A Memory

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Disclaimer: I do not own The Boondocks or the characters involved.

A/N: I've always had this in mind with one of my first OTP's. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Only a Memory

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At one point, everything in life seemed to be prefect for a certain young mulatto. Her beauty was unparalleled, exotic, and her confidence was humbling. Jazmine Dubois, a senior attending Woodcrest High School is not just any young girl- she is one of the most popular in her ranks.

She's a force amongst her peers and Jazmine couldn't ask for more; she was ready to finish her senior year, the world was for her conquering, and she should be feeling ecstatic.

Surprisingly, even with all her prospects, she couldn't deny the fact that she just wasn't happy.

As Jazmine came home Saturday night, from hanging out with her friends, she was once again reminded of her blissful childhood. As she stared at the Freeman residence, she couldn't help but wish she was ten again and listening to Granddad's wild stories of his conquest with young women, Riley's constant attempts at trying to be "hood" and at the thought Jazmine couldn't help but giggle.

However, her spur of happiness was cut short as she remembered the last but certainly not least Freeman boy.

He was always there for her even when he pretended like he didn't care. She remembers when he helped bail her dad when he was charged with homicide, warning her about Mr. Wuncler's abuse of her lemonade stand, and even let her be a part of his survival plan during the chicken pandemic scare.

It wasn't that long ago but yet it felt like ages have passed by and she realizes how bitter she has become on the inside. But Jazmine learned the hard way that something's will never be the same, and no matter how nice you are, how much you work to be a good friend, you can never force someone to like you.

It was foolish of her, really, to like someone who was not compatible with her in almost every aspect. Even then, he was all she could think about- back when they were best friends.

She looked forward to hearing his conspiracies, even though she didn't want to believe most of them. She wanted to give him hope where he saw none; she wanted to make him smile when he felt he couldn't.

But it was an unrealistic dream; she should have known she was in over her head. Eventually, she found out her feelings were only one-sided as well as their friendship. She should have never invested so much time listening to Mr. Freeman's crazy stories, followed Riley's adventures at trying to be a "gangsta", but most importantly she shouldn't have ever fallen for Huey Freeman.

* * *

"Jazmine, you should go to Amber's sleepover. She invited you, aren't you even somewhat excited?" Mr. Dubois was at a loss; he couldn't believe his daughter didn't want to hang out with girls her age. Don't all girls want to go to sleepovers?

Jazmine rolled her eyes. Her father's constant meddling in her life has become obnoxious. "Daddy! I can't! I promised Huey and you didn't let me go last time either because it was 'late', we need to hang out for our secret meeting."

Sighing, Tom asked, "Honey, what are you two planning?"

She snickered, "I can't tell you, it's a secret!"

Of course, Tom should have known by now that he wouldn't get Jazmine to reveal any details over their "secret meetings".

At first, it worried Tom to no end to think his little girl was spending a substantial amount of time with an alleged retired terrorist, especially one that kept to his self and seemed to hate everything.

Though once he got to know Huey he realized he isn't as radical as most believed him to be- yes, his beliefs were but he would never hurt anyone . . . well at least not Jazmine.

Tom came to the conclusion that what really bothered him about Huey was the attachment Jazmine had towards the boy. Jazmine looked up to Huey, would talk about him constantly, and seemed to prefer his company to his and that made Tom jealous.

Feelings aside, Tom knew that his daughter still needed to socialize with girls of her age.

"Sweetie, you and Huey can plan your secret meeting any other day. Don't you think it would be nice to hang out with girls your age? You might have more things in common."

"But I like hanging out with Huey and I actually like his weird hobbies" Jazmine seemed to be lost in thought at this point, "a lot actually." She was of course persistent and to be frank she barely knew Amber and her group of friends. If she hung out with those girls she might be left out and she was already comfortable with Huey.

Her father interrupted her thoughts, "Look Jazmine, I asked Amber's parents for Amber to invite you."

Jazmine was not expecting that and to say she was pissed off was an understatement, "You did what?"

"You need to learn to talk to girls your age."

"I have friends that are girls, Dad! Huey is my best friend and he just happens to be a boy and there's nothing wrong with that!"

"Please Jazmine, just this one time- for your Dad? It would make me really happy to know you're being more sociable."

And how could Jazmine say no to her dad? She really didn't want to go but she couldn't stand seeing her father so desperate, she hated seeing her father this upset. She then concluded, "Fine, just this one time."

Tom was beyond relieved, "Thank you honey. I'm sure you'll have fun." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and ruffled her top hair. "Go get ready, I'll be taking you in an hour."

"Okay, but I'm going to go tell Huey I won't be able to make it."

"Why don't you just call?"

Jazmine couldn't repress the blood rushing to her face; "I haven't seen Huey all day."

Tom shook his head but gave his daughter an approving hand gesture, which prompted her to run out of the house as fast as she could. It happened every time; her legs felt like putty, her stomach felt like there was a million butterflies rumbling, and she just felt so happy.

Once she arrived at the Freeman house, she felt her nerves rising as she rang the doorbell but no one answered, not even the second time. I guess no one is home.

"What are ya' doing here, halfy?"

"Uh, Mr. Ruckus, hi!" Jazmine didn't like because she didn't know whether or not he hated her. She was half black and half white, so where she stood in Uncle Ruckus (no relation) perspective was beyond her.

"Them niggas ain't here, probably out lootin' a store!"

Immediately, Jazmine felt her enthusiasm be sucked out she really wanted to see Huey, especially considering she hadn't seen him in a while now. "Oh, I wanted to tell Huey that I won't be able to hang out today."

Out of character, Uncle Ruckus did something that if Jazmine weren't there to see it she wouldn't have believed it-he smiled, "Don't worry half-breed, I'll let the darky know."

Jazmine was left speechless she never thought he would ever be willing to do anything for her, especially something that would concern Huey Freeman. Nonetheless, she wasn't going to turn down any offer of kindness.

"Thank you Mr. Ruckus! I would really appreciate it", and to her surprise she was honestly very thankful.

"No problem, now you go head back to yo' beautiful white momma, and wannabe white dad."

I guess you can't ask for too much. Jazmine figured the gesture was nice enough and to look past the old man's racist comment.

There was some battles you had to choose and she felt this one was one she would never win-you should never fight against ignorance because ignorant people never want to learn. Without responding she ran back home to get ready for her forced sleepover.

By the next day, once the sleepover and morning goodbyes were over, Jazmine was back home. She wasn't going to lie the night out wasn't that bad. From watching Disney movies, eating candy and pizza, and even self-manicures it was overall a good time until the girls started styling each other's hair.

She wouldn't have minded their curiosity over her hair as much if it weren't for the invasion of her privacy.

Really? Who just comes up to someone and starts petting her like a damn domesticated animal. She wasn't some pet, she was a human being and she didn't give the girls permission to start touching her hair and the worst part was that she could feel the subtle judgmental looks.

But other than that she did have a nice time, still she would have preferred to have spent the night with Huey. After she unpacked and had lunch she decided to go over the Freeman residence and hang out with the boys.

Once again, she was back on the Freeman porch ringing the doorbell. But once again, nobody opened the door and she impatiently rang the doorbell hoping anyone would come to the door. Oddly enough, she swears she could hear a small but distinct mix of mumbling sounds and light footsteps across from her but then the noise just stopped.

The door didn't open and she was about to leave until she heard the door slightly creak revealing Riley in the narrow opening, he looked pissed but Jazmine decided not to comment because she was grateful someone finally opened the door.

"Riley!"

Dryly he responded, "What do you want Jazmine?"

Something was going on and Jazmine didn't like that she had no idea what was going on. She meekly said, "I was wondering if Huey was home."

"Nah, he's busy with shit." The thing was that Riley isn't a friendly person to begin with but he has never been rude to her.

"Can I just talk to Huey? I haven't seen him for a while and I-"

"Damn nigga, why is it he gotta be there but not the other way around?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Look, do him a favor and stop pretending to be all nice and fuck, no one's buying your shit anymore!"

"Riley, you're not making any sense! Just let me talk to Huey becau-"

He yelled at her, "Jazmine!" Which made her flinch back, she has never been in the receiving end of Riley's fury.

It seemed to pain Riley when he saw her reaction but he looked away and continued, "Jazmine . . . just go."

"But I-"

"I'm sorry, but he ain't going to talk to you."

She didn't get to say anything else as Riley closed the door on her face. Jazmine stood staring at the door speechless, her body felt numb, she was so confused, but most of all she was hurt.

After who knows how long, she sprinted down the street without really knowing where it was she going. Eventually, she found herself on top of their hill, where she sat in front of the large tree, where her and Huey usually spend their time together.

Finally, Jazmine's emotions caught up to her and she started bawling, holding her hands to her face at an attempt to keep her composure but it was a lost cause. She couldn't catch her breath, she was crying so much she her vision became blurry, and her sobs were so loud she couldn't hear anything around her. She just couldn't stop.

For the first time in Jazmine Dubois life her emotional state caused her physical pain and the worst part was that she didn't know why she was crying. Why would Riley be so rude to her? Why would he not even give her an explanation and worst of all why would Huey not want to talk to her?

What happened? Was he really that mad that she went to a sleepover? It wasn't her choice, her dad had forced her, but he wasn't even giving her an opportunity to explain herself. What the hell was going on?

All she did was cry that night. She lay by the tree and cried to her limit, cried until she couldn't produce any more tears and lost her voice. Eventually, she went back home and was fortunate enough that she didn't have to face her parents; she lifelessly dragged herself to her bed and collapsed. That night she managed to cry herself to sleep.

Jazmine doesn't stop contact like Riley asked her to do at first. Once a day, she would call the Freeman residence hoping Huey would answer. But he never did, it was always Granddad giving her the conventional, "Sorry sweetie, he isn't here."

They both knew he was there and they both knew he didn't want to talk to her. Two months had passed by and her calls became less frequent.

Jazmine has been trying so hard and to continue to be ignored was driving her to a depression that even made her parents suffer. The Dubois figured something must have happened between her and the Freeman boy but even when they tried to get any information from her or the Freeman's no one would answer.

Finally, Sarah decided to step in to help her daughter, "Sweetie, what's going on, you're not yourself anymore."

Jazmine whimpered, "Huey doesn't want to be my friend anymore."

Affectionately, Mrs. Dubois asked, "Why?"

She was ready to cry, "I don't know."

"You haven't talked to him?"

"He is avoiding me . . ." Jazmine couldn't help but feel embarrassed that she was being ignored so harshly.

"Did you do something to make him ignore you?"

"No, I didn't" Did I?

Sarah sighed, "Sometimes people change, and there really isn't anything we can do about it. I'm sorry honey that you're going through this but you can't force people to be your friend."

"I guess you're right."

Sarah smiled and took the house phone Jazmine had been clutching to her chest. "Besides, you were too good for him anyway!"

Funny, Jazmine thought, I always felt he was to good for me.

"C'mon Jazmine, let's go to the movies, I'll buy you some chocolate what do you say?"

Jazmine nodded and faked a smile following her mother out of her room and it took all of her will power not to think about the time she went with Huey to the movies. Even though Huey told her that day it was going to be "the worst day of her life" boy was he wrong.

She went on doing her best not to think of the Freemans and their secret meetings, fake charities, the hilltop, and how surprisingly warm Huey's hugs were.

From that day on Jazmine stopped calling, she stopped crying, but most of all she lost a part of herself.

* * *

Tom called out, "Jazmine, what are you doing outside at this hour?"

"Huh?" She was caught off guard; she didn't know what to respond considering she knows she shouldn't be thinking about frivolously matters. Still all these years had gone by and she still finds it difficult to ignore so many memories once she's in eyeshot of the house.

"Had so much fun with the girls you didn't want to come back home?" Tom joked.

Not really. Jazmine shrugged not knowing how to respond without mentioning what was really keeping her planted outside on her front lawn- she never was a good liar.

"Come on home sweetie, you have to go to finish up your homework and get ready for school tomorrow!"

"Right!" Jazmine quickly jogged back to her house fighting internally not to look back. Why should she? There was nothing for her there anyway.

Monday morning came around and Jazmine was ready for her weekly routine in school: she would go to first period, talk with Amber and the girls, lunch, go to her environmental group meetings, homework, and with social media all in between.

However, today wasn't going to be the same for Jazmine it never was going to be the same for her ever again. As Jazmine walked through the school hallways she was confused to be greeted with silent stares and suppressed giggles.

What the hell?

She dismissed the previous atmosphere and headed to her locker to get her biology textbook for first period. As Jazmine opened her locker she was shocked to find a white slick sheet of paper on top of her textbooks.

She began to worry; nobody knew her locker combination so how the hell was there something in there that wasn't put by her. Maybe it was a school board message. As she picked up her textbook with one hand and reached over to grab the paper with the other she was dreadfully shocked to see the contents of the sheet.

There it was clear as day two pictures printed side by side: the right side had an alleged shot of Jazmine, in the complete nude, on her knees with her rear end facing forward as her head was looking over her back to face the camera, as the other picture had her front bare with her hands behind her head.

WHAT. THE. FUCK?

She scrunched the paper and threw it in her bag at an attempt to hide it, but it was futile. As Jazmine turned around, she was surrounded by her peers, all of them staring at her, judging her. Shortly, someone from the crowd shouted out, "Hey Jazz, nice tits!"

The crowd erupted in laughter and Jazmine bolted through the crowd trying to run away from the laughter and crude comments. She ran towards the farthest restroom and locked herself in the first stall she could find. She felt sick and she felt like she was going to vomit.

She unfolded the scrunched up paper from her bag and stared at it with confusion, anger, and mostly shattered heart, "This isn't me..."

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-Any reviews and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!


	2. Facing Reality

**A/N: This story along side with "In the Beginning" are stories that were previously published on an old account. I am gradually moving them to this new account and the previous ones have been deleted. I apologize for all this mess but promise new chapters are coming up!**

Chapter 2: Facing Reality

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Most people look forward to the end of the week but that would not be the case for Huey Freeman. While he did enjoy the weekends, Friday's were the worst in Woodcrest High School.

Huey has noticed that students become more obnoxious than usual on Friday's: from prep-rallies, football games, kick-backs, illegal substances all of which played a large role on their insufferable behavior.

He just hated Fridays- that simple. But he digressed, and did his best to ignore the ambience.

As the bell rang to dismiss Huey from his fourth period he took his time to pack his belongings, as he always did, but halted getting up from his chair when a frail woman appeared before him.

Her voice was overtly sweet, "Hey, you're in my Government class too, right?"

Huey was taken aback; he has seen this girl before she was one of the "popular" teens. In general people did not approach him so he was not accustomed to someone coming up to him with such boldness.

He resumed to getting up, "Probably."

She shook her head and giggled, "You're funny!"

 _What is she doing?_ Apathetically, he responded,"Right."

Whatever it was she was planning to do Huey did not want to get involved. He just needed to get through this day to finish another week and be that much closer to finishing this damn school. He walked pass by her and she pursued.

"Wait! Hold up!" As she caught up to him in the hallway she kindly asked, "I was wondering if you had a partner yet for the senior project?"

Finally, Huey looked at the girl but took his time to focus on her. One thing he could not deny was the fact that she was a sight to behold. This girl with a known name- had ashy brown hair that made her steel-blue eyes appear deeper, a slim fragile figure most girls would die for, and a radiant smile that brought all her beauty together.

Nonetheless, a pretty face would never be able to fool Huey. Well, at least not again.

He really wanted her to leave. "I'm working alone."

Skeptically, she countered, "How? The teacher said we had to group with at least two people?"

Huey stopped walking and stood before her having had enough of her just tailgating him like some car. "He gave me permission. I'm sure if you ask he would do the same."

As Huey was about to turn to leave she raised her voice, "but don't you think it would be easier if we grouped up?"

He shut his eyes, "I work alone."

"I've noticed . . ." she began to twist her right foot bringing attentions to her legs, "but just this once, you should really group up. It will make the work easier and c'mon, I promise I'll do all my side of the work. You won't hate working with me!"

He doesn't know if it was her optimism, or that radiant smile but he gave in.

Sighing he replied, "Alright, I guess."

"EEEEEK!" She squealed, "thank you so much! Now we won't have so much work on our hands."

Huey nodded in response certain the brunette did not want a heavy workload. Besides she did not seem as threatening as most people wrote her out to be, in fact, they were probably just jealous of her or were mad that she might have rejected other people's advances. Huey scolded himself for knowing all about this stuff without having ever met the girl. It wasn't his entire fault. Caesar loved to talk about people and Riley always loved to listen. He shouldn't have paid any attention. _Stupid Caesar._

Her eyes at that moment seemed out of focus and her smile appeared to deepen after she announced, "Alright, Huey Freeman! I'll catch you during sixth period!

Huey spoke up, "Wait."

She looked back at his direction, "What is it?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

She smiled with such jubilation it almost seemed out of character, "I'm Amber."

Huey was heading towards his usual lunch spot. He could not stop thinking about the encounter he had a few minutes ago. That girl came to him with such ease and he could have sworn she was flirting with him.

However, the thought was immediately dismissed. She more than likely just wanted to group with him to lessen the baggage of the project. Yeah, that seemed like the most logical reason. Girls like her do have the tendency of using people in order to make things easier for themselves. Now he felt like an idiot, he should have said no and now he was kind of grossed out at himself. Being charmed by a girl's apparent sweetness, once again.

He hated thinking about it because it only reminded him of a pair of emerald green eyes that held so much innocence. Those eyes, he hated to admit, would have got him to do anything.

But those days were gone and he sure as hell wasn't going to start thinking about _her_ again. Finally, Huey reached the table outside of the cafeteria and took his usual seat: next to Riley in front of Caesar.

"Ay, what took you so long nigga?"

Leave it to Huey's brother to lighten up the mood. "I got caught up."

Riley scoffed, "With what? You do the same shit every day."

"Hey, Riley!" Caesar interjected, "why are you all up on his business. Let the man breathe."

"The fuck? Don't tell me what to do!" This was usual during lunch for Riley and Caesar to fight over the most irrelevant issues.

For Caesar it was amusing and for Riley it gave him an opportunity to practice his shit talking skills "and you should stop cursing too, this isn't middle school."

"I'm young Reezy; I do what I want when I want nigga!"

"Can both of you just shut up." Huey was not in any mood to be listening to his brother and best friend fighting, again. Surprisingly, both of them did. That is until Caesar decided to break the silence.

Speaking to both Freeman boys but only directing his attention to Riley he mentioned, "Have any of you seen the nudes of that hot chick in our school?"

The comment immediately caught Riley's attention, "For real? Where did you see it?"

"Today actually, after gym some guys were hurdled around and Aaron was showing everyone who hadn't seen it yet."

Riley leaned further onto the table, "Do you have it with you now?"

Shaking his head he responded, "Nah, but I could ask someone to send it to me if you'd like."

"Shit, why are we like the last ones to know?" Riley crossed his arms and grunted.

Caesar shrugged,"I don't know probably because we don't really socialize much."

"Agh, whatever! Tell me the details who's the hot chick?" Riley was excited. He would never admit it but hearing new gossip at times gave him a bigger thrill that watching sports.

Caesar picked at his food as he nonchalantly noted, "Some random broad called Jazmine Dubois."

Both boys stopped eating and came to a complete halt. There was dead silence and Caesar had no idea why that name would cause such a scene. Riley should be hollering, and demanding to see the picture. Huey should have continued to not care considering he doesn't put any interest about there topics unless it involved politics.

But here they were with a stunned Riley Freeman and Huey not looking quite like himself.

Furrowing his brows, Caesar asked, "What?"

After what seemed like the most awkward moment between the trio the silence ended as Riley slammed his hand on that table grabbing a hold of his stomach and began hysterically laughing.

"For real? _The_ Jazmine DuBois put on a whole show for the school?"

Caesar was glad to see the mood lighten up. Chuckling at Riley's antics, "yeah, at some party. You know the usual she got drunk then started taking of her clothes for attention."

At this point, Riley was holding in tears at how much he was laughing. "Damn, now that's entertainment. How did she look?"

"Actually, pretty hot. She could be a porn star if she really wanted too."

"Probably, she is a hoe."

"Riley." Both boys stared in shock. It was rare to have Huey to get involved with high school drama.

Riley scoffed and demanded, "What?"

Huey remained silent glaring and judging his brother internally.

"Don't give me that look nigga. What the fuck is wrong with you lately?"

"Nothing is wrong with me." At this point Huey returned to staring at his food.

"Nigga, you've been bummed out more than usual, straight up ignoring Caesar, and now you're defending that hoe?"

"I'm not defending her. I don-"

Riley began to shake his head and hands animatedly, "Nah, nah, nah, don't be throwin' that shit on me. You might be able to convince your baby girl over here", at which Caesar sent a menacing glare, "but I know when you lyin' and you ain't good at hiding it."

Huey pushed out of his chair standing straight up ready to make his exit, "I'm not going to put up with this and you guys should find something better to do with your time."

"You see that Caesar? That's Huey bein' a punk ass 'lil bitch over some hoe!"

However, Huey was already out of earshot. Even though Riley tried his best to yell it loud he was held back by the small fear of being caught cursing again.

Caesar grabbed Riley's shoulder to bring him to attention, "Riley, what was that all about?"

"You've been friends with Huey since middle school and you can't even remember Jazmine?" Riley pushed him off with more force than necessary.

It took a moment, but finally Caesar's eyes snapped wide open and he gasped, "How could I forget?"

Riley frowned, "Probably 'cause you don't care."

"It's not like that Riley." Caesar began to rub his temples in disbelief, "I care- I just forgot about her. It's been so many years since Huey or you even mention her."

Riley's tone turned sympathetic, "I'm sure Huey won't ever forget her."

"Riley", Caesar attempted to apologize, "I'm sorry. I should have-"

"There you go again, being a gay ass nigga." Riley took his turn to stand up and casually remarked, "I'm out of here. If I'm late to English again I will never hear the end of it from Mr. Lefebvre."

Of course, Caesar should know by know that Riley isn't the type of person to discuss feelings whether it's his own or his brother's. "Later."

A slight nod was Riley's respond leaving Caesar alone with his thoughts.

 _Man, how could I have forgotten?_

* * *

Riley threw the control at the couch and pointed dejectedly at Caesar, "Damn nigga, why you always cheat at PlayStation?"

"I'm not cheating!" Caesar was baffled. The youngest Freeman first claimed the remote wasn't working when he first beat him. The next time around he claimed he was hungry and now he was putting full blame on Caesar, which pissed him off.

He retorted, "Yes, you are!"

Only one thing left for Caesar to do and it was the honest truth. "It's not my fault you're a noob and your aim sucks!"

"Fuck you Caesar!" Caesar tensed. He knew Riley cursed a lot and speaking vulgarities was just in his nature, nonetheless it made Caesar a little uncomfortable.

Once again Huey had to step in, "don't let him get to you. He's just a sore loser."

Riley sneered, "Says the nigga that stopped playing because he kept losing to me!"

"No." Huey snapped back, "We stopped playing because you kept throwing fits when I would beat you."

"Psh, whatever you want to believe nigga." Huey rolled his eyes it was impossible to get through to his brother sometimes. He would never be able to reason with Riley when his pride was on the line. After the argument, they all decided it was best not to play video games anymore and decided to just watch mindless television. A few hours later, while watching music videos, Caesar could not help but feel grateful.

Two months ago when he moved into the Woodcrest area from Brooklyn he never thought that he would be able to find friends, especially in an area where nobody was like him. He was exceptionally lucky to find Huey, and yes, Riley as well. They brought a lot of life to this seemingly dull town not that he honestly didn't mind. Everything was generally more peaceful and people didn't have worries as much, probably from having money. Whatever it was, he was just happy to have made friends so soon and he already felt like he's known them for ages.

In retrospect, Caesar could see himself building a life here. In this town he could keep his friends, find a good job, hell even go as far as getting married. There were a lot of pretty girls but why was he even thinking this he was only thirteen. Conversely, that reminded him of something.

"Hey", both boys looked at Caesar, "have you guys talked to that cute neighbor girl?"

At which Riley scoffed, "what cute girl? There ain't no pretty girls here"

Huey raised a brow, "is that so?"

"Yeah 'it is so'", Riley mocked his brother's tone, "and there ain't no girl here worth a real niggas time."

Huey raised a brow, "that's funny considering you spent an awful amount of time with Cindy."

"Nigga, Cindy and I play ball together! We ain't in no relationship!"

Huey meekly responded, "Sure" fully knowing that his comment was enough to rile up his brother's emotions.

Promptly, Riley acted, "It's true nigga!"

Huey sarcastically agreed, "Uh, huh."

Riley scowled and turned to Caesar at an attempt to change the conversation, "alright, what chick you trying to get at"

Caesar began to think hard as he was recollecting the memory, "I don't even know her name. I just noticed she was pretty cute but she lives across the street from you guys and I think she's mixed or something but I don't know. Her hair is dead straight but her complexion is slightly darker than her mom's and she has these bright green eyes"

Caesar was weighing out his options considering that the girl was a beauty she still was far from perfect. She was a little to petite for his taste and didn't seem athletic but she was a pretty girl. He shifted his gaze from the ceiling shaking of his fantasy and finally caught on to the scowls both Huey and Riley had.

For once feeling out of the lope he asked, "What's wrong?"

Huey commented first, "That's Jazmine".

"So you guys do know her?"

Huey nodded, "yeah, we use to hang out with her"

Caesar was a smart guy and could tell from the tone that something was obviously wrong. "What happened?"

Huey calmly responded, "She out grew us."

"What?" That response really didn't make any sense.

Riley took initiative, "the dumb bitch picked the glamour life and dumped Huey."

Huey stood up immediately with clenched fists and responded darkly, "Riley, it wasn't like that."

"Shit could have fooled me." Riley stood up too, he wasn't one to show any weakness even when he was outmatched, "You should have seen it Caesar this nigga was moping around for two weeks straight after she left him."

"I wasn't moping around!" Huey felt his temper becoming unbalanced.

"What do you call not leaving your room, sleeping for hours, barley eating, shit you even skipped school some days just to avoid seeing her."

He closed his eyes doing his absolute best not to fall for Riley's trap, "Riley-"

Riley hooted, "oh man, Caesar, you should have seen that shit. This nigga was all heartbroken! Acting like a corny nigga all for an ugly ho-"

Riley couldn't finish his last sentence as Huey's fist collided on the left side of his jaw.

The Freeman brawl began and Caesar didn't know what to do. He knew about their wild fights but had never actually seen it in person. Caesar had imagined before how physical fights between the Freeman brothers might be and only thought it was a couple of wrestling moves, but this was incredibly out of his creativity, this was just _brutal._

Huey was viciously punching Riley at his face and Riley did his best avoid the punches and was able to on occasions. However, Huey dominated in both strength and speed and easily caught on to Riley's escape tactics. Before Huey could throw another punch Riley used his lower body to pull his knees up and kick Huey in the gut sending him forward with such a velocity Huey fell on the floor with a thud. Now, it was Riley on top punching Huey.

At that moment, Granddad walks in grabbing Riley off of Huey and shouting, "y'all niggas need to learn to behave! I can't watch my damn shows 'cause you two always end up almost killing each other or worse yet wrecking my home!" at that he turned sternly to Riley, "you better tell me what you did this time!"

Riley didn't keep still as he was trying to break free from his Grandfather's grasp on his shirt, "Granddad it wasn't me! Huey punched first!"

A questioning glare arose towards Huey from the older man, "Huey?" at which Huey put his head down in shame answering Granddad's question.

Gradually, Mr. Freeman let go of his youngest grandchild and announced, "leave, Huey and I have to talk."

Riley turned to the stunned boy on the sidelines, "I'll see you later Caesar."

Grandad snapped his fingers and pointed at the door, "That means you too, Riley."

"What?" Riley crossed his arms, "ain't I a part of this family? Shouldn't I be able-"

"Out." It's usual to see Granddad upset. The boys have done some inexcusable things in their life and have made him pick up their mess on several occasions. If there was anything Riley knew about fighting with his grandad is when to pick his battles and right now it's the best to walk away.

Riley left taking a very confused teenager along with him. However, even though Riley knew when to pick his battles he also knew when to take an opportunity. As he turned the corner he pushed Caesar back quickly signaled him to be quiet and began to eavesdrop.

After a moment the eldest Freeman spoke up, "What happened?"

Huey stood up but continued to look at the floor, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Boy, did I ask if you wanted to talk about it?" Granddad really had no patience, "I asked what happened. Now you better tell me before I beat the words out of you!"

Huey exhaled. He knew most of the time his grandpa didn't mean those threats but this was something he dreaded talking about. It was difficult to express vulnerability in families that pride themselves in their strength. Showing your weakness is one of the last things anyone wants because people will rarely show pity. But at this point it didn't even matter. Huey was certain by now that Granddad already knew what was wrong and was just waiting for him to be vocal on the matter. _It's now or never._

He exhaled, "It was about Jazmine."

Granddad took this moment to sit down on the couch but kept his tone neutral, "what about her?"

Huey scrunched his face. This was incredibly awkward for him, "Riley was about to call her a 'hoe' and . . . I just got angry."

"What did you do?"

He pinched his nose out of embarrassment, "I punched him in the face."

Granddad shook his head in disapproval, "You know Riley loves to make people mad. You have heard Riley say things much more vile than that and not once have you reacted like this."

 _Of course_ , Huey knew the talk was coming and regretted starting the topic but he remained quiet and allowed his grandfather to speak.

"Ever since the two of you broke off you've been on edge at the any mention of the Dubois."

Huey knew that, "I haven't noticed."

His grandfather scoffed, "sure", but pushed forward, "look- Huey, being heartbroken is natural. It happens to everyone and it's almost inevitable."

Huey opened his mouth ready to respond but nothing came out. What was he suppose to say? That he didn't like her? That he wasn't heartbroken? That he doesn't care? How could he say any of those things when his actions counter all of the above? As much as Huey hated to admit it but the day Huey found out Jazmine wanted nothing to do with him, in fact she probably only pitied him, he knew things would never be the same.

But never did he think it would hurt so much.

Back when he left Chicago he remembered how angry he was at granddad for separating him from his best friend Cairo and his own hometown. He was angry and sad and he didn't think he could ever forgive granddad. Looking back, he doesn't remember being that angry. If anything, within the week he was already past it and started his new life already with an overtly enthusiastic, naïve girl.

Yet, this was different considering it took him weeks to finally follow a stable eating habit. It took him months to stop thinking about the girl on the daily basis. This was sick. Whatever it was Huey was feeling he didn't want any of it. He just wants to move on like he's always been able to do. How is it that someone like Jazmine could affect him this much? Considering he had nothing in common with her, always fighting with her, and hell at some points he just wanted her to leave his house because she would never leave.

Now she's out of his life for good.

He should be happy. What was he thinking? What was he doing spending so much time with someone who had such a faint heart and couldn't bare the reality of the world. She had such a silly imagination where she would convince him to play house and he would have to call her corny names, give her piggy back rides, and he would even have to pretend go shopping with her. It was a silly game but he only allowed it as long as they followed one rule: Riley was not to know about it.

Mr. Freeman began to worry since his grandson had yet to respond, "Is everything, alright?"

Immediately, Huey was snapped out of his thoughts. He had forgotten the whole reason why he started thinking about her. However, it had become an unhealthy habit of Huey's to drift of thinking about her and what seemed like minutes apparently were hours.

"Yeah", as Huey turned his back towards his grandfather, "everything will be alright."

"Huey, if you need-"

"No, I'm good now", Huey turned around to meet his old man's worried state, "thank you for the talk."

He really was grateful for it and as he headed out of the living room where two teens realized that they had been snooping in the entire conversation and bolted out of the house before Huey could reach the hall.

In harsh gasps by the front porch Caesar whispered, "Riley, you idiot. We could have got caught."

Riley harshly whispered in response, "Nigga, you could have left if you cared so much about getting caught."

"I was scared." Caesar hated to admit, he was nervous but his curiosity was greater than the latter.

"Of course you were", Riley smugly responded, "You're not a real gangsta like me."

He rolled his eyes, "You're not a thug."

"The fuck? I'm was a member of the Lethal Interjection and you shouldn't doubt my legitimateness or else you'll be really scared."

As Caesar was about to ask what in the world "Lethal Interjection" was the front door opened revealing a very calm Freeman boy. Both boys waited for Huey to do his next move. Slowly, Huey took a deep breath and asked, "Riley could you go inside? I need to talk to Caesar."

Riley spread his arms wide attempting to leaning back in shock, "For real?"

Curtly Huey nodded, "Yes."

Riley grunted but did as he was asked to do but that didn't stop him from complaining, "shit, apparently I ain't a part of this family because everyone is having conversations behind a niggas back."

Caesar was taken back, what in the world could Huey want to talk to Caesar about? Shortly after, Huey closed the door and stood right in front of him with his arms crossed and carried a blank expression.

Breaking the silence Huey asked, "Do you like her?"

"What?" Caesar felt he heard wrong.

Impatiently, he asked again, "Do you like her?"

"Who?"

Huey's forehead scrunched at the name, "Jazmine."

Caesar's eyes opened in shock. Did Huey honestly believe that he liked this girl? Yeah, she was cute but he never dared to approach the girl especially when she was around those hotheaded jocks or girls that would do nothing but glare and giggle at the people around him.

Nonetheless, he answered with the truth, "of course, not."

"Are you saying that because you heard the conversation or because you honestly don't?"

Caesar was filled with guilt. "How did you know?"

"Riley always snoops, he's probably snooping right now", to prove his point Huey punched the door with much force and the after affect was a grunt followed by a shuffling footsteps, "but I need an honest answer."

Pushing his guilt aside answered, "Huey, I don't like her that way. Yeah, I thought she was cute but I don't even know her."

It didn't seem to convince Huey so Caesar decided to take a different route, "besides, you know my type. I love athletic fit chicks, large tits, and tall. That girl doesn't come close to my standards."

And that's what did it because immediately after Huey's expression softened. Scratching the back of his head he responded, "good point. I forgot about your dream girl."

"Oh, and I'll find her just you watch man. She's going to be so bomb both you and Riley will be jealous."

"I doubt it. Whoever is insane enough to be with you must have some kind of defect." Huey lightly commented.

By that comment Caesar knew things were going to be well off. As the boys continue to bicker over who was going to have the better life and Riley coming back shouting profanities at them for excluding from the conversations Caesar made two observations.

First, was that there was nothing that could possibly ever separate the three of them. Second, but not any least important, was that if there was anyone who needed some kind of hope it would be Huey Freeman. If given the opportunity Caesar would make sure Huey never loses sight of it.

* * *

Huey did not know what he was angrier about: Riley's insensitive behavior, Caesar's lack of memory, or himself. He should not even care about her and yet here he was letting his emotions get the best of him, which shouldn't be there in the first place.

The more he thought about it the more he couldn't believe it to be true. _Could it be true?_ That girl who was so innocent, benevolent, and overly trusting was now this other women? If those pictures are true and it really is Jazmine DuBois behind the shots then it was not the Jazmine he used to know. His Jazmine would have never been as vulgar as to use her body; she would have never resorted to such promiscuity just for attention.

But what the hell was he even thinking about. _His Jazmine._ He never had her and if he did have any feelings for her they were merely platonic nothing more. In fact, who ever that girl he knew back then was she is clearly long gone by now.

Huey did his best to suppress the thoughts of what has become of his old childhood friend, even though they are strangers now, both of them still shared something back then. The only difference, Huey couldn't help but think, is that one of them is stupidly wasting his time thinking about someone who obviously had moved on from him. He just wanted this day to end and he was in luck because there was only three minutes left until the last period began and then fifty minutes later he would be heading home. He was about to turn to exit the building before he heard an almost inaudible plead.

"Please . . ."

He turned before him and was in shock on the sight before him. Right in the middle of the halls were three men hurdled around the lockers, snickering like idiots, while one of them had his hand leaning on the wall in it trapping the one girl that Huey never thought he would see again.

But there she was cowering before the man in front of her in complete distress. Huey couldn't help but notice how her body was trembling and how her hands were desperately trying to grab hold of something but found no leverage. Her head was moving side to side as the man in front of her was lowering his head gradually to reach at her level.

At this point, Huey was only two feet away from the scene and no one had notice that he was so near probably because they were all being entertained by the sight of Jazmine's suffering. It was disgusting but the level of disgust heightened ten fold when he heard the arrogant man chuckle, "I know you want to."

Impulsively, her entire body clenched and she pleaded, "no", but clearly that wasn't enough because the taller man lowered his face to her level and moved in closer at an attempt to kiss her. He would have done so too if it wasn't for the interruption.

"She said 'no'".

All four heads snapped out of their current situation to stare at the person who interrupted and Huey took a quick moment to analyze each one of them. The two men around were looking at him with flabbergasted expressions, the idiot who was closest to Jazmine looked utterly pissed off, and Jazmine: she looked like awful

Was it possible that she looked more scared now than before? Because there she was starring at him with wide-shocked emerald eyes, body tense, and her mouth was slightly parted. She looked lost and scared, which made Huey's heart sank. All this time he had been thinking of Jazmine as some kind of promiscuous woman but yet here she was scared beyond all means.

Then he saw tears in her eyes, and now it was Huey's turn to scowl and he directed his anger toward the aggressor in front of her.

The man growled, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Does it matter?" Huey doesn't move an inch.

In matter of seconds, the man abandoned his previous plans of scoring with Jazmine and in strong strides was facing in front of Huey glaring at him with such unadulterated hate that the boys surrounding them became nervous. "You must be new around here if you're dumb enough to pick a fight with me."

"Fight?" Huey never broke eye contact "I'm not here to fight. I simply stated a fact."

The man glared at Huey and cracked his neck, "You really don't know what you've started."

Huey smirked, "Likewise."

The strapping youth took a grip at Huey's collared shirt and brought him closer, "Is this some joke to you?"

But Huey freeman never faltered and scowled in response if he wanted a fight he was more than willing to give it to him. It had been a while since he had a decent spar and as while both men prepared for one of the most spontaneous fights in the school their trance was broken.

"Parker!"

The young boy immediately released Huey and turned to face the school's football couch, "Coach Martin!"

Approaching the scene the older man questioned, "Class started a few minutes ago, why aren't you there?"

"Sorry sir" He quickly glanced at his prey, "I got caught up."

At which the coach finally took notice at the male behind and became frustrated, "Freeman, not in class? You want to join your brother in detention today?"

Huey questioned, "detention?"

"That's right, I caught your brother, _again,_ on the phone during class time. I've confiscated his phone and he's not getting it back until he picks up all the trash in the whole school this afternoon."

Huey exhaled. Riley sure knew how to get in trouble lately and it was always him being on his stupid phone. He's probably been contacting Cindy sneaking in talks during school. _Idiot._ But then again here Huey was about to get into a brawl that he was bound to lose due to being outnumbered, which reminded him why he was there in the first place and without thinking he turned to look at her, "Jazmine."

In unison everyone turned to look toward the wall she was pinned on not so long ago, but somewhere in between the fight she had gone. Now all what were left were two men hoping to god that their coach didn't punish them with suicides, a teenager with a wounded ego, and an incredibly lost Huey.

He didn't mean to call out her name, especially not in the desperate manner that gave him raised eyebrows from the jackass and the football coach. Though he couldn't help but wonder where the hell was she and when had she left. He was mad at his own carelessness and irrationality. He shouldn't have lost sight of her but maybe he shouldn't have intervened.

But what was he suppose to do? Let those assholes abuse someone? _No._ He did the right thing he would have done that for anyone. It just happened to be Jazmine who needed the help, just a coincidence, that's all.

"Well", the coach was at his wits end, "are you idiots going back to class or do I have to assign you all janitor chores for the weekend."

Like mindless drones all the football players chanted, "No sir" and each of them dashed to their designated class with the exception of Parker that gave Huey a death glare for as long he was in his sight.

As Huey walked past his previous gym coach to head to his last period he was stopped by his coach, "Hey, whatever that was don't let Kenneth get to you?"

"Kenneth?" _So that was the jackass's name._

"Yeah, Parker, he's hot headed but he channels all his anger in the game which makes him a great asset."

In all honesty, Huey didn't care to know anything positive about that aggressive brute. "Humph."

"You should have took my offer back in your freshman year to join the team, kid. You would have gone really far; you had a lot of potential." The coach was being sincere. Huey had a difficult time convincing the coach to leave him alone. It didn't matter what anyone told Huey, he was never a fan of American football and he was not going to be forced to do something he did not want to do.

"I don't think that would have worked out for me," Huey further explained, "Sports were originally created to train youth to prepare for militias and suppresses individuality. It also instills people to embrace subordination."

"Yeah, yeah, you've told me before. I'm just saying it because you could have made it into varsity, and who knows you could have took the team into the different direction, but now you'll never know." The Coach appeared to have been drawing up scenarios in his head.

"In all honesty, I don't care for football." That comment brought him back to reality.

He chuckled, "you're missing out son. Now go to class before I write you up."

Huey nodded and finally headed towards class feeling amiss. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was wrong. He was fighting the urge to ditch class and look for Jazmine considering that she didn't look okay and then out of nowhere she disappears. However, he should do the logical and responsible thing and head back to class before it got any later. Wherever she went off to she is probably safe, hell she's probably in class at this very moment.

Besides, it's not like he was desperate to know where Jazmine went off to, he was just a little curious.

* * *

"One . . .Two . . . Three . . .brrrr-"

Jazmine had been struggling to calm her anxiety by counting to ten but she couldn't even reach five before she threw up again. It didn't seem to work, in fact, most of the blogs she found discussing how people control their anxiety was not working for her. She tried it all: deep breathing, distractions, trying to sleep, but the panic attacks kept coming and it was starting to take a toll on her life both physically and emotionally.

Jazmine grabbed her hair in fists as she attempted to push the pain somewhere else but it didn't seem to work. Once again, Jazmine tried to vomit in the trashcan but nothing came out expect the loud choking sounds at her own dry mouth. She thrown up everything she had eaten for the day, which wasn't much to begin with, and now all she was left was with a burning throat, an upset stomach, and dry swollen her eyes.

Two weeks have gone by since the picture of her had started to circulate and it has been a living nightmare for the young mulatto. Nobody talked to her anymore. All her girlfriends had abandoned her calling her a disgrace to women and a slut. The guys who she thought were her friends were either disgusted by her or wanted to fuck her.

What really hurt her too was when her best friends Jade, Chloe, Savannah, and even Amber told her that since they were all in the cheer squad they couldn't be seen "fraternizing" with her. In all honesty, Jazmine did not believe a single word from them. Not only did they show now compassion towards her she could have sworn Chloe was holding in a laugh.

Jazmine didn't know what to do anymore because every attempt to talk to someone had been shot down. Everyone hated her now and she could not handle it. How does someone go from being adored by most teachers, envied by every girl, and how Aaron use to put it "wifey" material has now converted to the laughing stock of the school.

Only two weeks have gone by but it feels like years to Jazmine. She isn't the same at home and each time her parents approach her she just tells them that she doesn't want to talk and leaves avoiding any further discussion. How is she going to tell them? Her father is a lawyer and she knew he would sue the school, make a big scandal, and she couldn't handle the thought of the case being brought to the media. All she wanted was for everything to go away and for school to be over with but it wasn't coming fast enough.

Today has been one of the worst days of her life. In the morning when she had walked to school some kids in a car decided to throw eggs at her and one of them successfully hit her straight on the face. It hurt so much it made Jazmine's entire head snap back and she swore she heard one of the guys say "Head shot! Ten points for Deandra!" and a roar of laughter as they speed away.

Still, Jazmine didn't cry.

She went to a supermarket and used the sink to wash her hair, face, and any part of her clothes that got targeted to avoid any smells or sticky residue.

Once she had made it to school the usual happened: sneaky glares, ridiculing, name calling, and someone even trashed her locker, so at least that was new. Having to clean all the yolk off of her textbooks and wipe down her locker gave her something new to do and she couldn't help but wonder how many points it was worth.

After that she just did her best to avoid everyone: eat her breakfast in a bathroom stall, take seats in the back of class so no one could throw stuff at her, and if she got lucky most people would ignore her but that wasn't the case. Apparently, everyone had decided to make remarks on her appearance and how she looked better in the photos.

But even that was tolerable until she saw them. A little before lunch had started she was on her way to the roof, since the janitor usually opens the door around third period, she saw her, Amber, looking more dazzling than she usual. The girl really knows how to do light contour, subtle eye shadow, and knew the best nude lipsticks to match her own or anyone's skin.

But there she was smiling brilliantly and even though it was only his back Jazmine knew who it was and she felt her stomach drop blood rushing straight to her face. He was tall, broad shouldered, and wore his signature hairstyle, and maybe a little less volume than before, nonetheless it was the most she had seen of the boy since many years ago. However, her time was cut short as Amber's smile's widened the moment she locked eye's with Jazmine. She dashed out of the hallway from embarrassment and nerves from seeing the two together.

Was it possible to feel sicker than before? Was the world this cruel?

Once she reached the rooftop and took her usual seat on the ground leaning by the door she felt exasperated, sad, mad, and as much as it pained her to say it she also felt jealous. She couldn't help but wonder why in the world Amber would be talking to Huey. What business do they have being together? Why did she look so damn happy? Was he making her smile? Was he being nice to her? She just felt her whole body run numb.

Now more than ever she couldn't help but feel insignificant.

When Amber and her had first become friends she was the only person whom she admitted to about her first crush and she told him about all the things they use to do together. Though at the time Amber didn't understand the infatuation she had because she felt Huey was "weird, awkward, and always looked angry". Yet there she was smiling, laughing, fluttering her eyelids, and swaying her body with each word- it was evident, she was flirting with Huey.

And he was okay with it?

Did he like her?

Have they met before?

Jazmine felt utterly stupid. Why did she ever let herself confide in Amber all those years ago? Something was happening between the two and it made Jazmine unbelievably jealous that Amber had the ability to talk with him, and even had the courage to flirt with him. Jazmine even in their youth never had the courage to openly flirt with him.

Hell, at first Jazmine thought Huey hated her at how cold he would treat her or how easily he shot down all of her dreams, but she didn't mind she just saw it as a challenge. She wanted to do anything and everything back then to convince Huey that her dreams were possible.

Though now it's a different story. She hadn't seen Huey, in fact not even Riley, in years even though they go to the same school and live across from each other. Well, the school was rather large and everybody knew who Jazmine and her circle of friends were and where they hung out so it must have been easy to avoid her. The only time Jazmine had a class with Huey was in an U.S history class junior year and the moment she saw the back of his head she rushed to the counselors and begged for a different class. She knew she wouldn't be able to pay attention if Huey was in any of her classes. It was easier to pretend he wasn't there. But she couldn't anymore.

Things escalated today to new levels and she feared for life right before the last class stared.

As she was headed to her last classroom she heard Kenneth whistle at her, "Hey, Jazmine, long time no see, eh?"

Jazmine turned back to see him and his stupid shit faced grin. _She really needed to stop cursing_. But if there was any man she despised it had to be Kenneth. He was an attractive man there was no doubt about it. He was tall, dark haired, hazel colored eyes, and was incredibly built. But that didn't change that fact that he was a horrible person. Not only did he constantly hit on every woman, besides the fact that most of the time he was taken, he was obsessed with himself.

All he ever cared about was how well he looked, being the center of attention, and how much every guy wants to be him and how every girl wanted him. But Jazmine did not like him, and ever since he was with Amber and he grabbed her ass while Amber was in another room she saw his true colors. The worst part was when she told Amber about it and not only did she not believe her she had the audacity to claim it was probably an "accident".

Brining herself back to the present, Jazmine decided not to respond she knew better than to get involved with someone like Kenneth. Apparently, he had other intentions and before she could walk away he dashed right in front of her blocking her from leaving as the other men crowded her.

"What's the rush Jazmine?" He eyed her up and down, "Is this how you treat an old friend by ignoring them."

Jazmine in the most serious tone she could manage responded, "I have class."

"We still have five minutes sweetheart, there's no need to be so uptight. I know for a fact that isn't your style." He cocked his right eyebrow. It was his signature move that drove women to do as he pleaded but it didn't have the same effect on Jazmine.

Jazmine winced, she knew perfectly well what he was insinuating and she really just wanted to leave. This was getting out of hand and she had enough on her plate for the day to have to deal with another pervert. "I don't have time to-"

Kenneth pushed forward, "we can make time."

She saw the eye's he gave her and it was that same perverse look he gave her when she slapped his hand away when he had groped her a few months ago. She had enough and was tired of all the crap she had to deal with and for once in her life decided to stand up for herself.

She locked eyes with him and boldly stated, "I'm not going to have sex with you."

At that the boy chuckled, almost maniacally and responded, "I'm here trying to have light conversation and it seems like you only have one thing on your mind."

Jazmine was about to respond before he began to walk close to her, which Jazmine intuitively stepped back. His glare was menacing, more freighting than usual, he stood tall almost at an attempt to make her feel smaller, and his smirk was undoubtedly full of malice. She really hadn't notice how scared she actually was until her back hit the wall and she was left with nowhere to run.

Smoothly, he placed his hand over her head and leaned in whispering, "I always knew that sweet, innocent front you had was a pretense", he leaned in further and smelled her hair which freaked her out, "but you're just a little slut that wants a good fuck, right?"

Jazmine could not believe what she just heard and yelled with as much courage she could muster, "I don't want anything to do with you! You're pathetic and disgust-"

Jazmine wasn't able to finish her sentence as the man above her punched the wall with such ferocity she could have sworn her headshot forward. But that was enough to silence her, she succumbed back into the weak, anxiety wrecked girl she had been all week.

She couldn't stop from trembling as began to lose the ability to breathe. _What's going to happen to me?_

Terrified, Jazmine stared at the floor hoping with all her might he would just leave. But Jazmine had to face the reality; there was no hope. This was her sick twisted fate and she was going to suffer. What was going to happen to her now? She was at this man's mercy and she hated herself and had no means of escape. But she did her best to calm her nerves and pleaded, "Please . . ."

She inhaled. _One . . ._

"I don't appreciate your tone Jazmine", she felt the heat coursing through her body, "but don't worry sweet heart you'll be able to make it all up to me if you're a good girl and do as I say."

She felt his face nearing towards hers, where exactly she couldn't tell because her eyes were tear stricken and was trying her best not to blink so the tears wouldn't drop. She had to do something.

With a deep whisper he went on, "I know you want to."

Exhaling, she pleaded, "no". _Two . . ._

He chuckled, the male ambience around sneered, and Jazmine blinked. This time before she could even count to three her breath was cut short by a third party's voice.

"She said 'no'".

Time stood still.

Jazmine knew that voice and it hurt her to the core that it had been so many years, yet hearing his voice took her back almost seven years. To make sure she wasn't going insane and hallucinating she snapped her head to the direction of the sound. Jazmine found silent comfort to know she had not made up the sound in her head. But there he was in the living flesh standing before them at a height she could never reach.

She saw him analyze them men before him, probably to size them up and see what he could use to his advantage, it had been years but Jazmine knew he was a fighter, and a good one to add on. What Jazmine couldn't quite describe is the moment when they locked eyes and she couldn't read him.

Was it pity? Anger? Disgust? Whatever it was Jazmine felt her stomach turn, her body tense, and no one could have ever forced her to look away because the first time in what seemed like forever she was able to glance at her past and all the feelings that she had attempted to push away had resurfaced.

She felt sick.

Huey's prominent scowl arose and he directed it away from her and back to Kenneth. Jazmine didn't even notice he had walked away until his frame blocked Huey and demanded, "Who the fuck are you?"

The rest in all honesty was a blur she just kept staring at Huey, as did Kenneth and his click. Within seconds she saw the football coach passing in front of them texting on his phone. Jazmine quickly took the opportunity to run away and for good reasons. One being that if she got caught by any of the faculty that she was ditching, again, she would get in major trouble. Some teachers have caught her and had only gone far as to scolding her.

But first, she had to barf.

She spent the entire seventh period vomiting, hyperventilating, and clawing at anything she could grab whether it was her hair, backpack, or even her own clothes. It didn't matter what position she sat in, or how much water she drank or splashed in her face because she couldn't find comfort. She lost track of time, she remembers the last bell of the school ringing but how long ago was it she couldn't be sure. With her she never knew how much time had passed nor did she care.

Shaking, the young mixed beauty stood up and walked over to ledge of the roof and took sight of the view. It was spectacular but Jazmine couldn't help but feel empty. No matter what she did she couldn't fix anything.

Everyone had abandoned her at her weakest. What was the point of having so many friends when all of them desert you at a time where she needed them the most? If she told her parents not only did she risk that picture being exposed, even though it was fake, everyone would have their doubts and the thoughts of having judgment not only by her peers, but by family and strangers. The thought sent unpleasant shivers down her body.

But worst of all Jazmine was angry with herself. She did everything in her power to avoid Huey on all costs and told herself every wakening of the day that she did not have feelings for him. She had to convince herself that what she felt for him was a silly schoolgirl crush. She even evaluated their whole friendship and concluded that Huey was just mean person, at least towards her because whatever she said he always had to prove her wrong.

However, all those years of hard work, sheer determination, and countless nights of distractions had all gone down the drain. The moment she locked eyes with the Freeman boy she felt something she hadn't felt in years. There was pain in her stomach but it didn't feel like her insides were turning, instead it felt like she had butterflies. Her body tensed out but instead of nerves of fear the feeling was replaced with bashfulness.

Lastly, for that short moment, she felt hope. Like if for once, everything was going to be okay. But all of that was quickly drained once she heard Kenneth's voice and saw Huey's definite scowl return.

Once again she was foolish. She felt like a complete idiot for not being able to control her feelings because no matter what she did they were false. They had to be. Everything she ever believed in had come crashing down on her. Life isn't as beautiful as she wanted it to be. In fact, everything she ever hoped for was lost. Friendships? They never lasted. Family? They weren't that reliable. Love? It doesn't exist.

 _One . . ._

Jazmine gripped her hands on the ledge in front of her and used it as support to carry herself until she was standing on the roof's ledge and this time took in the sight below her.

Three stories.

That's how high the main building in the school was and in retrospect it wasn't that high. It would be slow considering the impact would probably only severely injure her and if she was taken in to the hospital she would possibly be able to survive. But it was late, meaning no one would really be at school and if for once she was lucky enough she would bleed out before anyone found her.

 _Two . . ._

It was all Huey's fault. Who was he to just barge into her life like that? How dare he just come in to her rescue like a hero when in fact he shouldn't be, he never was, and never will be.

Worst of all, how dare he remind her how happy she use to be. Those ebony eyes, thick brows, and chiseled chin were her weakness. Shoulders that were so broad they felt welcoming, and how intoxicating it use to be to hug him.

But she was never destined to have that kind of happiness. She never knew how to keep friends, was in love with someone who would never return her feelings, and apparently didn't know how to face her parents with the truth. That life she once wanted before it was all fantasy.

Jazmine closed her eyes and as she lifted her right foot she inhaled and breathed, "Three."

Before Jazmine could lean forward she felt a firm grip grab the back of her sweater.

 _Shit._

* * *

 **\- If you have any suggestions, comments, questions, or anything for that matter don't hesitate to leave a review or message me directly. Any review, even a negative one, is extremely appreciated!**


	3. Unexpected Encounter

**A/N: I want all of you to know that your reviews give me life. I literally reread your reviews and smile like an idiot because it makes me glad to know others like my story. Thank you all for the positive feedback and input.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Boondocks or the characters involved.**

 **Chapter 3: Unexpected Encounter**

* * *

"Ouch!"

Jazmine had not expected for her entire body to be pulled viciously against the floor. After her head hit the concrete with such intensity, she worried if the fall might had caused a concussion, especially, as she felt a heavy pulse in the back of her head.

As Jazmine rolled her body to the side until she was on all fours, she pushed herself up and balanced herself on her knees. The elevation made her head spin and feel much worse than before, which she then immediately used both hands to massage her forehead.

At that exact moment, Jazmine could not help but feel like an utter disappointment; not only had she just tried to commit suicide, but she had failed miserably.

She just could not seem to do anything right.

If she could have had her way just once; then just maybe she could have been thirty feet below, unconscious, subdued in a permanent sleep. Instead, she had been pulled back and was on the verge of tears as she suppressed her massive headache and back pain.

Once she recuperated her vision, her nerves began to rise as she noticed a pair of black sneakers in front of her. The young mulatto began to panic. All she wanted at this point was run- run far away.

 _What the hell am I going to do?_

More than likely, whoever had pulled her to safety was a faculty member, or a janitor, since the sun was about to set. She would have to face the consequences of her near attempt suicide and the person in front of her would probably inform her parents. She honestly did not understand why it was such a big problem.

Is it not logical to want help from your own parents? Why did she want to run away from the only two people that still loved her? Sadly for Jazmine, she only knew herself as a coward and facing her own demise is something she much rather do then admit fault towards her own parents.

She felt her nerves replaced with confusion once she heard his voice, "Are you a fucking idiot?"

Her eyes snapped open and slowly they trailed the figure in front of her until she was able to fully capture the sight before her. It seemed unreal, she probably did look like an idiot with her hands pressed to her head, eyes swollen, and scrunched facial features. But if there were anyone she could have suspected from being there that day, at that time, she would have never expected him.

"Riley?"

His frown deepened at his name and he crouched down to be at eye level with the young mulatto as he gave Jazmine the opportunity to observe him. If there was any doubt that the man that stood before her was not Riley all of the doubt was soon gone.

Jazmine was able to recognize him immediately as she thought, " _He has his eyes._ "

She let her arms fall lifelessly on her sides and once again, but with a different question at mind, asked, "Riley?"

His voice deepened, "Why don't you answer my fucking question?"

Jazmine blinked and felt a little embarrassed that she had forgot what he had asked, "What did you ask?"

"Are you-", he clapped his hands together, which made her involuntarily flinch, "A fucking idiot?"

Jazmine put her head down in shame, "No . . ."

He stood up once more and began to circle her as he spoke. "Then what the fuck were you doing just now?"

"I-I was j-just observing the view."

He halted and faced her with visible annoyance, "Really nigga?"

"Yes . . ." Jazmine began to twirl her fingers.

"Do you think I'm fucking retarded or something?"

She felt the warm hot tears begin to swell in her eyes, "N-no, I-I don't."

"It fucking looks like it!"

Jazmine clenched her hands at an attempt to retain her composure. She finally mustered the courage to give him eye contact, which she immediately regretted.

Riley extremely frustrated then said, "If I wasn't here on fucking on garbage duty, you know what the fuck would have happen to you?"

She nodded in response.

Riley's voice deepened as he commanded, "Say it."

Dumbfounded, Jazmine responded, "What?"

"Say what the fuck would have happened to you, Jazmine."

"I-I would have-"

"Died!" He yelled.

Jazmine closed her eyes in shame, "I know."

"Oh," He laughed bitterly as he mocked her, "Well at least I know now you're not retarded, just a fucking idiot!"

"R-Riley . . ."

"What? You're going to tell me you're not a fucking idiot!"

"No but-"

"Because you fucking are!"

"If you would just let me-"

"What? You want me to let you do what you want?" He ridiculed, "Shit Jazmine, if I let you finish what you start, you might have been fucking dead right now, do you-"

Jazmine snapped and yelled, "Yes, I fucking get it Riley!"

She could not hold back her frustration any longer. She let her tears and sobs break out right in front of Riley; she was furious, embarrassed, shocked, and so unbelievably sad. For the first time in weeks, she finally let herself cry her heart out.

Surprisingly, Riley stood in place and actually waited quietly with patience. Jazmine took the opportunity to voice her say in the matter, "I-I know what . . .would have happened."

Riley waited for her whimpers to die down, which took roughly around a minute, but he stayed there as he waited for her cries to lull. At that time, Riley noticed that even though it had been years since he had seen this girl some things never changed. The fact that this young woman was capable of brining him to sympathize with her was one thing, but to actually feel remorse?

Riley don't do shit for no one. A Pimp Named Slickback would be ashamed if he saw him now.

Yes, he was mad at her for her actions. In fact, when he heard Caesar mention that she was the girl whose naked pictures were around the school he felt somewhat sick. He would never be able to look at Jazmine that way. She was supposed to be pure, smart, and kind.

But none of that mattered anymore to Riley. He should not care less to what she is supposed to be. Jazmine was just like the rest of the scandalous women: doing anything for attention. He spent a lot of time to convince himself just that in order to explain why she abandoned them. Riley considered to leave, since, he had done his good deed of the day there really was nothing else that forced him to stay by her side.

But in all honesty, as he saw her cry it brought out a protective side of him. He never could explain why but he could not leave now. He had to know what was going on.

Riley asked, "Why did you try to jump?"

She mumbled low but loud enough for Riley to hear, "I want-wanted to die

The young Freeman felt his heart sink.

Even though Riley wanted to despise her, in fact, at any opportunity he would ridicule her just to see his brother's reaction. However, that was not the case for today. If anything Jazmine's confession should have been merely words, but they were not. He concluded that he does not necessarily have to care for her, especially, as he considered they were not friends anymore. Nonetheless, he did feel obligated to make sure that when he left she would not try to jump again.

He then asked sternly, "Why?"

"Because I have nothing to live for anymore."

Riley wanted to yell at her again but suppressed his anger. She was Jazmine DuBois! How the hell did she not have anything to live for?

Riley responded, "You're stupid. You're just going to leave your family and friends behind? For what?"

"I don't have any friends."

"Aren't you like one of the fucking popular ones?"

She clenched her hands and gritted out, "Not anymore . . . "

"Is it because of the pictures?"

Riley saw her nod in response and he sighed as he said, "Jazmine you're stupid."

Jazmine raised her voice and retorted, "Why are you so rude to me?"

"Because you're being dumb! You know how many hoes have nudes of them? They don't give a fuck; neither should you!"

She bitterly replied and turned away from him, "I'm not a whore."

Riley stood silent as he collected his thoughts then asked, "Then why did you do it?"

Jazmine could not help but feel that his question was coded with something deeper than what he actually asked. Finally, she lifted herself from the ground completely and wrapped her arms around herself for comfort. "It doesn't matter."

Riley was pissed, "So you're not gonna answer?"

"If none of my supposed friends believed me what difference will it make telling you?"

Riley frowned as he observed her and she continued, "You won't believe me either."

Riley exhaled as he responded. "Look, I don't like you."

She shrugged, "As does everyone else."

Riley wished he could take back those words because it pained him to see Jazmine so apathetic. This person just was not the girl he grew up with. This Jazmine seemed dead inside. However, Riley prided himself with being a "hood nigga"; he does not offer sweet words, or gestures, it just was not his style. But he could do his best to lessen the damage.

"That's not the point Jazmine." She eyed him suspiciously as he continued, "I might not like you, and maybe the whole school might not like you, but who gives a shit? What about Mrs. And Mr. DuBois?"

The curly haired youth put her head down in shame as he pressed on the issue. "Don't 'ya think it'll hurt them?"

She did not respond which left Riley consumed in his own pride. He smugly responded, "Exactly!"

"Riley, you don't understand."

Riley raised a brow and looked at her with curiosity as he asked, "How?"

However, Riley's prideful demeanor gave Jazmine the wrong impression, which she then immediately held on her sweater and took a step back, "W-Wait, why are you being so nice to me? Are you up to something too?"

"What?" Riley noticed her pace back in fear. At first he had no idea where this fear came from but as he saw her clutch on to herself he soon realized that Jazmine feared that he wanted something more, something sexual.

He was grossed the hell out. "Fuck no! Jazmine, I'm not interested in you like that! For fucks sake you were like a lil' sister to me back then!"

She let loose her grip and lightly mentioned, "Riley, I'm older than you."

"That's besides the point."

Jazmine could not help but smile internally and feel utterly grateful for Riley at the moment. Besides the fact that he saved her from her own pursued death he continued to stay here by her side without any obligations. Surprisingly enough, he now wanted to hear what drove Jazmine to try to kill herself. If there was anyone she wanted to discuss how she felt she had previously imagined Amber or Chloe, but that option was out the window the moment she realized they seemed almost happy to be rid of her.

Her parents were another option, but in all honesty she would not be able to handle such an uncomfortable topic that would bring too much attention in her own household. While being lonely has started to take a toll on her sanity, she needed the privacy at home to cope with whatever the hell happened at school.

While Riley was not the ideal candidate, he was the only one ready to listen and dare she think it he almost seemed to care. Whether he does or not is irrelevant to her because now she was just desperate for release.

Jazmine took the opportunity and explained, "These past weeks have been a living nightmare. Since those stupid pictures came out, I've lost everything including my friends and family."

"Even your homies?"

She sighed, "They were all embarrassed or disgusted by me so they now either ignore me or make fun of me."

"Don't sound like real homies to me."

Jazmine sighed, "I've been thinking the same thing too."

Riley changed the topic and asked, "So Tom and Sarah ignoring you now, or what?"

"No, they don't know." She knew what he was going to say next but cut him off before he even tried to speak, "but I don't want them to know Riley. You have to understand that if my parents know about the picture they will sue the school, or students, and I-I can't handle a scandal or those stupid pictures being more exposed than they already are."

"I guess . . . I didn't think about it that way. Man, I don't know what Huey is going to say about all this."

Jazmine jumped towards him and grabbed his shoulders tightly, "You can't tell him!"

Riley pulled away and countered, "He's my nigga, Jazmine, I have to tell him."

She shook him with all her strength; she hoped to get him to understand her desperation. "Riley, if you tell him he's going to know that I tried to kill myself!"

"So?" He grabbed her wrists and lightly pushed her off, "Who gives a shit. Let the nigga think whatever he wants."

"I beg of you, don't tell him it-it's just too embarrassing."

Riley rolled his eyes and said, "If anything he can help."

"Please, listen to me. If you tell H-Huey the first thing he is going to do is tell Mr. Freeman and then he is going to tell my m-mom and d-dad! I-I j-just c-can't-"

"Alright, alright I get it," he relented, "I won't tell the snitch."

"Riley?" he gave her his full attention, "thank you."

"Yeah, it's cool."

"Seriously, Riley. Thank you for hearing me out and stopping me from . . . well you know."

As Riley stood up, Jazmine stared at him and for once, in a very long time, she felt at ease. Riley stretched his arms out and yawned, "Well, it's about time I head home."

She nodded fully aware that sooner or later this conversation had to end. It pained her to know that this will probably be the last time she might see him and she will never be able to repay him.

She took a deep breath as she stood up and said, "Yeah, I should be heading out soon."

Riley sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, "Jazmine, please don't try to kill yourself. All that's going to happen is you're going to hurt all of those who care about you."

Jazmine felt guilt but somewhat disheartened at the young man's comment. At this point, besides her mom and dad, nobody else would be impacted by her death. However, her thoughts were cut off as Riley said, "Also, if I were you, I would feel proud that everyone hates me!"

Her eyebrows creased in confusion. "What?"

"Yeah Jazz!" Jazmine involuntarily tensed at her old nickname, but Riley continued on to explain, "If niggas ain't hatin' then you doin' somethin' wrong."

Breathlessly, Jazmine brought her hands to her chest and clenched her sweater; she could feel her heart swell. At that moment nostalgia overwhelmed her as she remembered the days she spent alongside with Riley; when he used to talk about gangsters and hoes, as if he truly was consumed by that life.

Jazmine pondered internally, _"I should have appreciated Riley's lifestyle, who knows, maybe I still would have been friends with him if I had stood up for him once in a while . . ."_

Jazmine's internal conflict became evident as Riley soon noticed that she had yet to respond to him. Riley took charge as he broke the silence. "Alright look," he put his hand inside his right side pocket and pulled out a crumbled piece of paper. Conveniently, he had a pencil tucked by his ear and began to write something down, afterwards he handed the paper to Jazmine and said, "Here's my number."

Jazmine thought she heard wrong, "Huh?"

A silly, smug grin escaped from Riley. "Give me a call or a text if you need anything." He immediately turned and headed out. Jazmine, like a deer caught in headlights, only continued to stare at the note. Once Riley reached the door, he gave her one last look and raised his voice as he shouted, "Don't think this makes us friends. It's just a debt I have to pay for that time you helped a nigga out in a fundraiser."

With that last comment he finally left, and yet, Jazmine had not moved. Today, for the young mulatto, had started as the worst day ever and had now become something entirely different. Riley's presence did bring her comfort, however, it also brought back memories that were not as pleasant.

 _Huey._

He too had come to her rescue when she felt like everything was lost. Who knows what Kenneth would have done to her if he had not come to stop him? She sighed at the memory. Once in her childhood, Huey was always there for her, even though he pretended not to care, or maybe he truly did not care, but he had always protected her from harm.

Huey was naturally a good person; even though, she never could understand why people disliked him so much; maybe it was his introverted personality, or that unbreakable scowl he always wore.

Jazmine knew that beneath Huey's exterior he was surprisingly very kind.

Nonetheless, Jazmine did her best not to dive into the thought. She needed to reestablish how she felt, more than likely; Huey helped her because he just noticed she was just in distress. It did not matter who was in that dilemma because Huey would have helped anyone. He was just being a good person like his brother.

Jazmine still continued to stare at the note Riley had handed her.

She was astonished by the whole series of events. Riley Freeman: the self-proclaimed thug, had been so undoubtedly sweet to her, which she would have questioned him further in detail but she knew if she had tried she would have only driven him away. Those Freemans' have too much pride.

Riley claimed to have given his number because he "owed her", but he had just saved her from death, listened to her side of the story, and promised to keep what happened a secret.

Yet, somehow, he still owed her because of some silly little fundraiser?

Suddenly, bells began to ring in Jazmine's head and she felt utterly stupid. How could she forget when she helped Riley manage the budget for that odd chocolate bar fundraiser? It was so much fun, a little scary, but at the same time it left her exhilarated.

Jazmine then proceeded to remember about the end of the fundraiser and when Riley had yelled at her since she gave the money away to some charity. Hell, how was she supposed to know Riley had kept the previous income? She thought she was in an actual fundraiser; hence, why she gave away the money to the charity of her choice. He scorned her so much for that but she brushed it off once Huey ensured her that she made the right choice.

However, that brought up an interesting question to the perplexed mulatto. If she ruined his fundraiser, how was it that he owed her the favor? It did not make any sense. If there was anyone supposed to be doing favors it should be given from her part.

Jazmine felt tears escape her eyes.

As she picked up her own things and headed towards the door she vowed she would repay Riley for everything he did for her today. Even though he made it exceptionally clear they were not friends, she was unbelievably grateful to have found something better than that.

Riley brought back stability in her life.

As she left home she felt at ease and thought, _"I always knew there was good in him."_

* * *

The sun had already gone down.

Huey Freeman was stationed in the living room with his eyes fixated on the television; however, he had not paid any attention to the actual content of the show. He wondered how it was possible to stare at an object, yet, at the same time, be completely unaware of what was actually in front of him.

This thought bothered him immensely. The eighteen year old took pride in being able to lock into focus given any circumstance. Nevertheless, here Huey was on a Friday night unable to stop the thoughts that continued to invade his mind. Huey felt desperate as he placed his hands behind his neck as he attempted to apply pressure to focus on anything else besides her.

Huey could not focus; he barely ate, constantly lost track of time, had ignored Caesar on the ride back home, and barley spoke to his grandfather. He was mad at himself for being so unbalanced, but he could not help but put the blame on Jazmine.

If it would have been any other girl in distress he would have been able to brush the incident off, even feel a little pride, but for some reason he did not feel good about himself. He felt like he had not done anything to help her, even though he clearly had.

Worse yet, Huey fought with himself after the incident as he looked for excuses to go find her and see if something else was wrong, but a part of him knew he only wanted a pretense to talk to Jazmine. As Huey considered the latter: he fought against his deep desires and forced himself not to run around campus, call her until she answered, or even knock on her front door after school.

Grudgingly, he sighed and thought, " _I worked too hard to be like this._ " He could not help but feel like some stalker. If he did any of those things he was certain Jazmine would make fun of him, reject him, or worse yet fear him. In all honesty, Huey really did not know how she would react. For all Huey knew, Jazmine had changed into a completely different person. Somewhere deep in his mind he could not help but imagine how things would have been like now if they had kept their friendship.

If Jazmine had stayed friends with him, she probably would have forced him to do things against his will; of course, only after she had nagged about it. She probably would have forced him to join some arbitrary club, meet obnoxious people, and forced him to listen to her talk about nonsense that use to range from: hair, celebrity gossip, and romance movies.

Jazmine would probably have forced him to go to school dances or theme parks, specifically on the dates that were crowded. The old Jazmine could have possibly been here right now on this very couch and would have attempted to force some chocolate bar on him, as she had once before.

When they were children, for whatever mundane reason, she persisted and continued to battle with him and push her existence on to his life. But as much time he took to imagine what would have happened, if things were different, that's all it would ever amount to be, just his imagination unraveled to a million possibilities.

Yet, even though there were many possibilities, the only course of action was that of reality, one in which Jazmine's life did not involve Huey.

Relentlessly, the afro-styled, young man stood up from the couch and decided to head to his room; however, the front door opened and Huey had remembered what he originally had waited for-Riley.

It seemed though as Riley had not noticed Huey's presence as he attempted to close the door with the slightest noise.

Huey decided to scold him and said, "You're late."

Riley's figure hunched and pressed his head against the door as he scorned himself and thought, " _Jazmine was right! He is a snitch._ "

Riley cleared his throat and turned to his brother as he responded, "So?"

"Don't be like that Riley," said Huey, "You know Granddad wants us home before sundown and you showed up much later than usual."

Riley rolled his eyes, "Shit nigga, it's not like it would be the first time I came home late."

"Yeah, it wouldn't, but you've always let Granddad know the days you come late beforehand."

Riley did not want to deal with his brother at the moment. He knew Huey had the habit of always finding out the truth. It would be best not tell Huey where he had been. Riley looked everywhere but directly at his brother and answered, "I won't do it again."

Huey crossed his arms. "I sure hope so."

Riley was in shock to see his older brother had calmed down much faster than usual. The youngest Freeman took it as a positive sign and yawned, "Alright, I'm going to sleep! I'm fucking tired."

As Riley began to walk up the stairs, Huey had decided he was not going to let Riley off that easy and said, "Yeah, I would be exhausted too if I had to be the school's janitor for the night."

Riley immediately turned back to look at him with confusion. "H-how the fuck did you know?"

Huey shrugged, "I have my ways."

If there was one aspect about Huey that Riley loathed was the fact that he could gather so much dirt on him and act so nonchalant. It made him a little jealous but he would never admit it out loud. Riley had to try harder to end this conversation. "Well, shit happens alright? Wouldn't be the first time a nigga had to clean for fucking up alright."

"Riley, you usually arrive home earlier even after you have detention or clean the school."

Riley did not respond but that did not stop Huey, he needed answers, "What took you so long?"

"There was a lot of shit to clean up", Riley raised his hand to scratch behind his ear and said, "It was a Friday."

Huey scowled, "Why is it that I don't believe you?"

"Shit I don't know. Probably 'cause you don't trust a nigga."

"You're hiding something from me."

At that moment Riley became agitated and began to wave his arms around; a quality Huey had always hated because he could immediately notice Riley had something to hide. "The fuck? I ain't hiding shit. I'm telling you the fucking truth! You're the one trying to see shit that isn't there."

Riley knew he had to get out of there as fast as possible before he said something he would regret.

Huey broke him from his thoughts, "I'll find out eventually; I always do."

Riley considered for a moment to just cave in and let him know everything that had happened today. Huey was always the rational one and it was possible that he would give him better advice to help Jazmine.

However, as much as he felt that he should tell his brother, he could not help but remember how desperate Jazmine was when she had pleaded not to tell anyone, especially Huey; but maybe it was the right thing to do, to tell someone who could handle everything and give Jazmine the needed help. But a promise was a promise and Riley was not going to break Jazmine's trust. She confided in him and, as of now, he was all she had.

But, most importantly, he was no snitch.

Riley shrugged his shoulders and coolly responded, "Whatever, I'm going to sleep now."

Once Riley turned to leave, Huey was in shock to see Riley with such composure at the end of a fight, which left Huey in confusion.

 _Something must be terribly wrong._

After his brother left and closed the door to his room Huey went to check up on his granddad. Good fortune came to him as his grandfather had fallen asleep and with that Huey was able to take stead to his own room. That night both brothers stayed up much longer than intended with pensive thoughts, but each with completely different reasons.

* * *

Saturday started off great but of course, for the young mulatto, it turned to complete and utter shit.

As of recently, Jazmine had come to notice that Saturday was now her favorite day of the week. Before, Friday rained supreme to all the other days of the week. Not that long ago, she and her friends would meet up and shop at the mall, hang out at someone's house, or better yet go catch a clichéd romance movie. Now Jazmine no longer had those friends and she had no one to spend quality time with, besides her parents, so now Friday's had become officially the worst day of the week.

Saturday's were now the best. On Saturday's she had a lot of options to her disposal: she could sleep in, sleep late, ride her lavender, white tired beach cruiser, or best of all she could do absolutely nothing.

This Saturday Jazmine woke up with so much energy that it left her baffled. For once, she had slept for more than four hours. On this particular Saturday she has also been able to eat a full breakfast. Later on the day she caught herself in her own reflection in her bathroom and was filled with shock. As she looked at the full view mirror, she was able to analyze the form she had taken these past few weeks.

She had not shaven even once since those damn pictures had surfaced.

Her imperfections all in one: her eyebrows were unkempt, her hair was incredibly oily, her ends were broken from years of high peroxide relaxers, flat irons, and constant washes, but worst of all, the most embarrassing factor was that she had very visible hairs on her upper lip.

Jazmine wanted to fall over and cry from embarrassment as she thought of how people had seen her in this state. All those damn pretentious girls, cocky guys, and even the teachers. It surprised her how no one had said anything about her current appearance and only focused on those stupid pictures.

Nothing was worse than thinking about how Riley, who had been really close to her, probably noticed the imperfections of her face or even worst yet, Huey.

She felt so silly worried over trivial details, but now she could not help but feel embarrassed. At that moment she decided that she was going to take a long nice needed bath, shave her legs, cut her split ends, and pluck all of those unwanted facial hairs.

After she had fixed herself up, she felt pride in being able to see a large improvement over her appearance. She actually looked good and Jazmine could not help but feel like today was a start at a new life.

Later on that afternoon, with surprisingly lots of energy, Jazmine decided to bike to the mall and shop for herself. It had been a while and usually only families go to the shopping centers on weekend so she might even be lucky enough to not see any people from her school.

After she slipped on her plain black jeans, worn out chucks, and her favorite green sweater, which loosely fell over her, she felt herself invigorated. She had a positive outlook for today, even though yesterday had been possibly her last; Jazmine felt incredibly lucky to be alive that she felt almost reborn. As she rode down the street and observed how bright the sun shined, the gentle breeze that caused leaves to fall, couples that walk their dogs, and even all the convenient stores made her feel guilty.

Yesterday, she was about to throw it all away. She had forgotten how beautiful life truly was but maybe that had to do with the fact that her life, prior to today, did not feel like a life. Being bullied into a newly developed anxiety, eating disorder, and insomnia really plunges people to their utmost worst.

Once she reached her destination, she did her best to forget about yesterday and focused on the stores she visited. It felt nice, Jazmine thought, even though she had never really done anything by herself, she felt oddly fulfilled to be able to shop at her own pace. For once she was in control of what she could buy herself, she did not need any approval from someone else to enter a store, and she could eat anywhere that she wanted.

Jazmine had spent the entire day at the mall and was happy to have spent her allowance all on herself. Once the department stores began to close she was headed out to leave the mall before it got any darker.

However, her happiness was short lived once she reached the bike rack at the edge of the mall's parking lot. It was sunset once again and her bike had both wheels punctured, thrown on the floor with the lock viciously torn apart, and the word "whore" repeatedly spray painted on different parts of her bike.

Oddly enough, she did not cry. However, it did pain her- a lot actually. She remembered three years ago when her mother searched for this specific bike. Jazmine loved that damn scrap of metal and now it was torn, vandalized, and it made her feel hollow.

She did not know what to do. It was late. Her house was more than half an hour away on bike. She only brought cash on her and had spent it all. The busses stopped service about an hour ago. Now she felt panic spread through her body. What the hell was she going to do? Her parents left for the weekend and she did not have money for a cab because she stupidly left her credit cards at her house.

It seemed to get darker outside.

There was no way she could walk home. There was no form of public transportation that she could afford and she had no friends to help her. But then her head snapped up at the thought.

 _Riley!_

Quickly she reached into her satchel and rummaged through her bag until she pulled out her phone and was finally at Riley's contact. She was more nervous now. It is very possible that Riley might blow her off.

 _Does he even have a way of picking me up?_

Suddenly, Jazmine heard tires screech across the pavement. She looked all around her to find the source and when she could not find another car she just reasoned it was just a car from a distance. Nonetheless, it scared her. The young mulatto then decided to call Riley. The worst he can do is say no. It would not be the first time someone is not there for her, but she had to try.

She had to trust Riley.

* * *

"Don't you niggas have anything better to do on a Saturday night?"

Both Huey and Caesar played connect four on the dining table. Caesar looked up before he dropped the next tick, "C'mon Riley, just try it out. It's actually a lot of fun."

Riley scoffed, "Huey beats you all the time! How is that any fun?"

"He doesn't win all the time!" Caesar grabbed the plastic chip as he placed it in the third slot.

"Whatever you want to tell yourself to feel better about it nigga."

Huey interjected, "You can complain all you want Riley but you're here too."

Riley stood from the table and said, "What is that suppose to mean?"

"It means you don't have anything to do either," said Huey.

Riley was about to argue back when suddenly his phone rang. Granted, given any other time he would let any notifications be forgotten because, oddly enough, a fight against his brother was a priority, but he could not help but wonder who calls him on a Saturday night. Most of his other friends were busy, unless they had prior plans they never frequented calls, and Cindy was at a wedding with her family; her mom had this crazy 'no phone' policy.

He pulled out his phone and observed that he had never seen this number before. Usually, he would ignore these types of calls too but the thought of Cindy in need of help brushed his mind and he immediately answered the phone without a second thought.

"Hello?"

Through the phone he could hear a high pitched, raspy voice, "Um . . . R-Riley?"

It was not Cindy, which worried him. "Who's this?"

"It's, u-um, Jazmine."

Riley froze. He felt stupid. How could he have forgotten he had given his number to Jazmine just yesterday! In all honesty, he never thought she would actually call him. However, he digressed, there was no way he could back out now, but now he became fully aware of the fact that two very amused teenagers who stared at him with a question he knew not how to answer.

Instead, Riley walked away as casually as possible and answered as he headed towards another room, "Oh yeah! What's up man?"

Through the phone a voice whispered, "Riley, I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you."

"Nah, it's all good." Riley looked back to make sure no one had followed him.

Jazmine raised her voice as she tried to find her comfort level. "Well, um, I don't know if this is premature . . . but I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor."

Riley had finally reached a corner of his house, which he believed was private, and answered, "What?"

"I'm kind of stranded in downtown, you know the shopping mall by the train tracks?"

"Wait, the fancy one? How the fuck did that happen?"

"I-I came on my bike earlier today and once the mall closed I was ready to go back home, but I couldn't because my tires are slashed and they vandalized my bike. I'm r-really scared Riley, it's dark outside! I have no money whatsoever because I stupidly thought I didn't need my credit card, my parents aren't home and if I call them they're going to freak out and get so mad at me that-"

Riley cut her short, "Alright! I get it man, I'll come for you."

"You will?" Jazmine's grip on the phone became tighter.

"Yeah, yeah, just give me some time to get there, alright?"

"Riley! Thank you so much. You have no idea how much I appreciate this and-"

"It's good. Just hold and I'll be there."

"Thank you, thank you!"

"Alright, I'll be there in a bit." This time he did not give her the time to respond as he put his phone away and began to develop his plan.

How the hell was he going to take Grandad's car while the snitch and his best friend were both in the house? Also, even though Grandad lacked the ability to hear well, he could recognize Dorothy's motor from a mile away. Riley's best bet was to ask Caesar if he could let him borrow his car. He had let Riley once before, and he did return the car. Hopefully, he can get away with it.

He strolled back into the living room and noticed that both of the teens had stopped with their board games. Huey asked in a monotone voice, "Who were you talking to?"

"Just a friend." Nonchalantly, he turned away from Huey and asked, "Caesar, can I borrow your car?"

Caesar questioned, "What for?"

"My friend just needs a ride back home and I kind of owe it to the nigga 'cause he's helped me through some shit back in the day."

Huey stood up, "Who? You're not be talking about Ed and Rummy because you know damn well they are criminals that-"

"Nah, it's not them!" Riley interjected, "It's some other homie you don't know about, and they really need my help. Besides, I'm not asking you for permission."

Huey scowled, "Unless you decide to tell the truth Caesar isn't going to let you borrow his car."

"Damn nigga, you didn't have a problem with it last time why are you all up on my face now!"

"Because last time you just used it to hang out with Cindy but right now I can tell you're lying Riley."

Riley stared at his brother and decided to end this argument once and for all. He did not have the time to argue. Someone needed his help and he always kept to his word. He turned to Caesar and asked one last time, "Caesar, may I borrow your car?"

Caesar hated being in between arguments. It was not right to be left as the last resort because who ever he sided with the other one held it against him for a while. But in all honesty, he could see Huey had some reason. Riley became so serious and suspicious on the phone, which only made Caesar feel like Riley was up to no good; and if something happened to Riley he knew Huey would never forgive him, and neither could he for that matter.

Dejectedly, he responded, "I'm sorry Riley. I can't let you borrow the car unless you tell us who you're picking up."

Riley turned around and headed towards the garage, "Never mind, I'll just use my bike."

As Huey yelled at him to come back the younger Freeman ignored his pleas and quickly got onto his bike and left.

Huey ran back to Caesar and said, "We're following Riley in your car. Let's go."

"Hey, don't you think we shouldn't be butting in his personal life like that? I mean, at some point you have to stop proctoring his life."

Huey put on his sweater as he spoke, "You don't understand Caesar."

Caesar responded, "Hear me out. Your grandfather raised you guys the same way and both of you came out completely different. Somewhere down the line each of you made choices to be the kind of person you are, and Riley is practically an adult now. You can't continue to control him like this Huey. You cant always be there to rescue him."

Huey took a moment of silence before he answered, "I know that Caesar. One day I'm not going to be there to help him anymore." He went over to the living room and grabbed Caesar's keys, "But until then, I'm going to make sure I protect him and hopefully then the idiot can turn his life around."

As they left the house, Caesar commented once inside his car, "I've never seen you as dedicated and persistent to help Riley. What's so different about today?"

Huey paused for a moment and thought about his question before he answered. "I don't know to be honest. I just have this weird feeling about Riley, he's doing something . . . and I just need to know."

Caesar chuckled and said, "You Freeman brothers are hella weird, you know that?"

"Caesar?"

"Yes?"

"Just shut up and start the truck already."

He jokingly responded, "Yes, 'master Huey, sir!"

* * *

"Riley!" Jazmine ran toward him and stopped at the same time he stopped to pedal and yelled, "You actually came!"

"No shit nigga?" He took a moment to catch his breath.

She began to excitedly circle around him almost afraid that if she touched him he would just disappear. "I'm so sorry for doubting you! I just- it's 'cause you took a while and-"

"Well yeah" Riley got off his bike and said, "I had to come over here in a bike."

With guilt she stammered, "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have asked if I knew you didn't have a car."

"I owed you a favor right?" Riley looked away from her, "That's what I'm doing", he didn't know how to handle emotions.

Jazmine looked away in slight sadness, she had hoped Riley would say something along the lines that he would be there for her, as a friend. Instead, he just reinforces the fact that he was here to pay a due, but she did her best not to wallow and was just grateful that she would get back home.

She felt tears welled up, "Thank you Riley."

"Yeah, yeah", he then noticed Jazmine bike on the rack and pointed out, "Is that your ride?"

Jazmine frowned in shame and laughed in a bittersweet tone, "Um, I think some people thought it would be funny to trash my bike."

Riley approached the bike and analyzed the hateful words written all over. It made him feel sorry for her because who ever had done this knew her well enough to identity her bike. Worse yet, someone who held such hatred toward her that they destroyed not only the bike but leave her stranded at night miles away from home. Riley internally scolded, "Those assholes."

He spoke up after the thought and said, "I'll take you home, then I'll pick up the bike tomorrow, and I'll fix it. I'm sure I have some spare tires and a spray to match this weird ass purple color."

Jazmine smiled as she acknowledged his efforts and replied, "Thanks for the offer but you've done so much already. I couldn't ask for more"

He turned away from the bike in order to look at her "Look, it's really not a big deal as long as-"

He stopped in mid-sentence and it startled Jazmine. Was he lost? Mad? Scared? She asked in a low voice with fear of her surroundings, "W-What?"

Soon enough, she was able to recognize his facial expression: anger.

Riley's form became defensive, his voice was full with malice, and his scowl deepened as he choked out, "What are you doing here, Huey?"

* * *

 **A/N: Please, any reviews would be greatly appreciated. I hope you've enjoyed the story thus far!**


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